1. 1) The dominoes begin to fall during the “summer of discontent”, 1914:
June 28: Franz Ferdinand assassinated by Serb nationalist in Bosnia (territory conquered by A-H)
July 23, 28: A-H delivers ultimatum on Serbia, it gets rejected, A-H declares war on Serbia
July 30: Russia mobilizes troops in the east (against Germany, A-H)
August 1: Germany, feeling threatened, declares war on Russia
August 3: Given Russian alliance w/ France, Germany doesn't wait around, declares war on France (as war plans required)
August 4: Germany implements Schlieffen Plan, attacks France thru Belgium
August 5: Britain declares war on Germany, in response to Germany’s violation of Belgium’s sovereignty
September: The war settles into a stalemate on the Western Front

2. 2) Updated Alliances:
Triple Alliance → CENTRAL POWERS
Germany, Austria- Hungary, Ottoman Empire
Triple Entente → ALLIED POWERS
France, Britain, Russia, Italy… LATER U.S.

3. 3) Italy switched alliances once the war started.
The Italians disliked German aggression & militarism (they had been allied with Germany for defensive, not offensive reasons).
4) Once war had come, most soldiers “marched happily off to battle…”
“… convinced that the war would be short”.
(and that their nation would be victorious, allowing them to return as a war hero).
“It'll be over by Christmas!”
Factors:
nationalism, militarism, social expectations (peer pressure), propaganda, romanticism, IGNORANCE

4. 5) WWI is a TWO- FRONT war:
WESTERN FRONT:
German border with France
(and Belgium)
… extended 500 miles, from the North Sea to Switzerland
EASTERN FRONT:
Russian border with Germany and Austria-Hungary

5. 6) Germany planned for a two-front war with the Schlieffen Plan:
1. Rapid attack of France in west w/ overwhelming force, outflanking the French army by attacking thru Belgium, while a less industrial Russia slowly mobilized (Germans assumed).
2. After a quick defeat of France, send army east toward Russia.
“Paris for lunch, St. Petersburg for dinner”.

6. 7) ...but, the Schlieffen Plan fails!
1. Germans stopped by combined French & British forces at the Marne River, outside of Paris
(consider, too: German supply lines get longer, French supply lines get shorter, so the advantage shifts to the defender, rather than the attacker).
2. Russians mobilized faster than anticipated, threatening Germany's eastern border, requiring the premature diversion of troops intended for the Western Front in France.

7. Battle of the Marne:
A HALF MILLION DEAD OR WOUNDED IN 8 DAYS!!!
No quick victory is coming.
Belligerents instead get stalemate & massive casualties, as war becomes more industrialized & deadly.
8) Western Front settles into 4 years of TRENCH WARFARE

8. 9) A life of misery in the trenches:
- muddy
- dirty
- vermin-infested
(rats, lice)
- inadequate,
poor food
- sleep-deprived
- terrifying / boring
- putrid (smelly)
- hopeless / desperate

9. 10) “No-Man's” Land:
Bombed out area between opposing trenches where no man could possibly survive very long (due to artillery, machine guns, barbed wire, snipers, etc.)

10. 11) “Over the Top”:
Leaving your trench to charge across no-man's land to attack the enemy...
… usually resulting in massive casualties from machine gun fire and enemy (or your own!) artillery.

11. 12) New (or innovated) weapons technology in WWI:
- machine guns
- poison gas
- tanks
- larger, more powerful
& accurate artillery
- planes
- submarines
- flamethrowers
- grenades
... mechanized mass
destruction

12. “Big Bertha” 
(range of 8 miles)
 “Paris Gun”
(range of 80 miles)

13. 13) Fighting on the Eastern Front differs from fighting on
13) Fighting on the Eastern Front differs from fighting on the Western Front:
- More of a mobile, dynamic front
- Changing battle lines
- Less trench warfare
- Larger front
14) Fighting nation faring the worst:
RUSSIA
- WAY behind in industrialization, esp. compared to other Euro powers.
- Had major shortages of FOOD, weapons, ammunition, uniforms, boots, blankets.
- Depended on very limited re-supply from allied partners.
- Only “asset”: a large population from which to recruit soldiers… only results in massive casualties.

14. 15) Russia could not be adequately re-supplied by their Allied partners (and could not adequately re-supply themselves, b/c they were not very industrialized):
- Germans blockaded the Baltic & North Seas with their submarines, sinking ships headed to northern Russian ports.
- The Ottoman Empire controlled access to the Black Sea, cutting off Allied access to southern Russian ports.